Science says music makes us go faster

A new study has shown that remembering to bring your headphones to the gym could be even more important than we first thought.

If you’ve found listening to Iggy, T-Swift and Jason DeRulo during your gym warm-ups gets you working harder, you could be right. A recent study conducted by the Asian Journal of Sports Medicine found that listening to music before and during our training sessions helps increase our energy levels, intensity and therefore the effectiveness of our workouts.

The study compared two highly trained athletes, one that spent 10 minutes listening to music and one without. While the two subjects’ heart rate and exertion remained the same, the power output of the athlete who listened to music was significantly higher than the athlete who didn’t listen to beats beforehand.

It’s not just during the warm-up that music helps either, it can also keep our mind off feelings of fatigue, enhance our mood and can be used as a stimulant during our session. Most of us already knew that though, the pain of a run with our favourite track is far less than a run sans music.

Make sure your training music is upbeat, somewhere between the 120 to 140bpm should do it. Upbeat songs had greater effects on power output than slower songs, so kick those RnB ballads to the curb and make sure you’re listening to something that makes you want to dance.

Yet another reason why forgetting your headphones at the gym is such a terrible disappointment.

If you’ve found listening to Iggy, T-Swift and Jason DeRulo during your gym warm-ups gets you working harder, you could be right. A recent study conducted by the Asian Journal of Sports Medicine found that listening to music before and during our training sessions helps increase our energy levels, intensity and therefore the effectiveness of our workouts.

The study compared two highly trained athletes, one that spent 10 minutes listening to music and one without. While the two subjects’ heart rate and exertion remained the same, the power output of the athlete who listened to music was significantly higher than the athlete who didn’t listen to beats beforehand.

It’s not just during the warm-up that music helps either, it can also keep our mind off feelings of fatigue, enhance our mood and can be used as a stimulant during our session. Most of us already knew that though, the pain of a run with our favourite track is far less than a run sans music.

Make sure your training music is upbeat, somewhere between the 120 to 140bpm should do it. Upbeat songs had greater effects on power output than slower songs, so kick those RnB ballads to the curb and make sure you’re listening to something that makes you want to dance.

Yet another reason why forgetting your headphones at the gym is such a terrible disappointment.